Somali football squad hits Sudan to qualify for CAF junior

The war-weary Somali U-17 football squad on Friday
knock Sudan out of the African youth championship qualifying by 1-0 during a
hotly-contested match held at the Khartoum national stadium.

The match was very competitive and each team was
committed to winning and as the result the first half ended in 0-0 draw. Both
sides launched successive attacks on the opposite goal, but none of them
happened to score during the first half.

Somali coach Mohamed Abdulle Farayare told a post
match press conference that he made more changes in terms of attacks on the
opposite goal during the second half and as a result Somalia’s young striker
Mahmoud Abdi Nur (Meman) scored the golden goal for Somalia in the 78th minute
of the second half.

"That late goal died down Sudanese hopes and
in the mean time increased the spirit of my boys—however we are ‘war-ravaged
people’ then we are happy with such golden victory" coach Farayare told
the press conference.

As usual countries play home and away matches in
such cases, but the Somali and Sudanese football federations previously agreed
to play one match in Sudan, because of the turmoil within the Djibouti Football
Federation who is without leadership currently and the Somali FA’s interim home
was Djibouti.

However Somalia have qualified for the second
round of African youth championship and will play against Algeria on the 12th
of October while the second leg is scheduled to be held in Algiers on October
26 as shown in the second round qualifying fixtures.

"Although we are still experiencing more
problems in our country—the SFF had spent a lot of efforts on its youngsters
and senior national teams, and we are very hopeful that in the years to come
there will be a big change in terms of football development in Somalia"
Secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab told the media on Friday afternoon.

Under the leadership of executive committee member
Ali Abdi Mohamed, the Somali delegation will return home next week